This past week was
significant in that everyone agreed on a funding allocation for federal
dollars. I mentioned last week that
Senate Bill 2042 had been unanimously passed by Senate Democrats and
Republicans and based on the fact that this appropriations bill is entirely
comprised of federal dollars, Governor Rauner publicly committed to signing the
measure.

However, once again, my
colleagues and I were put on an unfortunate political roller coaster that
culminated in House passage of Senate Bill 2042, which will appropriate
approximately $5 billion in federal only dollars currently being held up by the
budget impasse.

While the House
Democrats initially pushed to derail the measure, they eventually realized it
best to provide a bipartisan stopgap relief measure to many state agencies. If
the Senate concurs next week, the measure will help critical human services,
child services, public health services and student assistance programs.

It is unfortunate that
it could not be sent to the Governor the same day the legislation passed, but I
am pleased that it now includes previously omitted funding for homeland
security that was suggested by House Republicans.

This is yet another
step in the budget process, one that is not ideal given the piecemeal approach;
nevertheless, this action makes sense as it allows the appropriation of federal
dollars that should not be subject to the ongoing budget battle in Springfield.

Monumental law
enforcement reforms were signed into law by the Governor. The legislation, Senate Bill 1304, is a
result of negotiations between all four caucuses and stakeholders from the
police and legal community, which is a combination of police officer related
bills that were held in Judiciary – Criminal committee and various Judiciary –
Criminal sub-committees this past spring session, which I sit on.

The bill contains a
large variety of reforms that came from both the community and law enforcement
themselves. As a former law enforcement
officer, I don’t agree with everything that was put into this bill, but I do
agree with the process, compromise and hard work that went into creating this
legislation and that is why I was a co-sponsor.

The bill applies to law
enforcement statewide and is effective immediately for provisions concerning
funding of the Law Enforcement Camera Grant through fines and the Commission on
Police Professionalism. The remainder of
the bill has no effective date and is thus effective January 1, 2016.

In light of some recent
and unfortunate news, I’ll leave you with some words from former President
Jimmy Carter, “You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even
better than you think you can.”

Summer session
continued for the 6th straight week without a budget in place. At
this point, I would not expect there to be a compromise. Unfortunately, I
believe this is going to end with whoever blinks first.

There are two
philosophies that people need to understand and decide which one to support.
The first viewpoint is to continue to do what we have done for the last decade
while the second viewpoint would do things completely different. The question
is, do you support the way Illinois continues to operate or do you want to see
us try something new?

The answer sounds
simple, but choosing a new direction is never simple, especially when one of the
leaders has been in power for almost 30 years. However, we are all watching the
fight for a new direction right this minute. Each and every one of us knows
someone being affected by this budget impasse.

This week, the Senate
voted on a measure that could bring some temporary relief to people who depend
on programs provided by the State of Illinois. Passed 57-0, $4.8 billion in
federal dollars would be used for programs like the Low Income Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

It provides spending
authority (federal funds only) for $100 million in Aging programs, $1.7 billion
in Human Service programs, $400,000 million in Healthcare and Family Services
programs, $317 million in Public Health programs and more (Complete list at bottom of page).

This legislation was
passed unanimously by both Democrats and Republicans. The Governor has already
stated he supports the bill and would sign the legislation if it passed both
chambers. I was hoping we would take up this issue this week, but instead
Speaker Madigan has the bill assigned to committee next week. While it is a
temporary solution to a much bigger problem, we should not be holding federal
funds hostage.

Also, I would not get
too excited just yet. Speaker Madigan has been known for attaching unrelated
items to bills in the past as a political power move. If that were to happen,
these federal funds might never be appropriated until a budget deal is
negotiated.

Until then, thank you to everyone who emailed
or called the office last week to share your concerns. It’s always great to
hear from you. I believe a high level of communication will increase civic
participation by ensuring people are aware and informed about the issues facing
our state. We don’t always have to agree, but ensuring you remain informed
about the struggles facing our state is critical to me.

I’d like to thank the
2015 Summer Civic Interns including Colton Havens, Patrick Muggler, and Megan
Smith. Their hard work and dedication has helped up reach out to over 7,000
constituents over 5 weeks by walking door-to-door. I am privileged to mentor
and teach the next generation of leaders and I appreciate the commitment to our
community our three summer interns demonstrated this year. We are now accepting
applications for the 2015 Fall Civic Internship, please call Sally for more
details.

“To improve is to
change; to be perfect is to change often,” Winston Churchill. Continuing down
the same path is not an improvement nor is it change. While we may never be
perfect, choosing a new direction is change with a chance at improving. I will
continue to take that chance in hopes of a new Illinois.